ONE HUNDRED TWENTY SECONDS FROM NUCLEAR HOLOCAUST

AN OPEN LETTER TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE

My fellow Americans, I sit here at 3:00 am with my heart racing and my hands shaking and I ask that you please take a moment to read my letter. I ask not that you read it for my sake, but rather for your own and for your children and grandchildren.

JUNE 8, 1967, during the Six Day War, we came as close to a nuclear war than anytime in history and it scares me to death as it should you. For the benefit of those who do not know what happened (the result of a deliberate campaign of cover-up and censorship by a Zionist-owned media in America) I will give you a quick history lesson. It all started on a beautiful bright, sunny day 40 years ago. Our ship, the USS LIBERTY, was sailing off the coast of Sinai, doing 5 knots. The LIBERTY was the most sophisticated intelligence gathering platform in the world at that time. We were in international waters gathering intelligence, plucking it from the air, which we had every right to do. We were doing what our government ordered us to do.

Early in the morning we began to see Israeli aircraft coming very close to our ship, some so close we could see the pilots waving at us. As we waved back we could clearly see the Star of David on the aircraft. This went on for many hours. Our flag was flying (as always) GTR-5 was painted on both sides of her bow and “USS LIBERTY” was clearly painted on her stern. There could be no mistake as to who we were. Israel knew we were American and we knew we had been identified as American and friendly as the Israelis themselves have since admitted. They plotted us on their war table and made positive ID of our ship as the LIBERTY. The crew all knew the war was still ongoing and we all took comfort in the fact that our Israeli ‘friends’ had come to visit us. It made all of us feel safer, just in case one of the Arab combatants got spunky and came after us as we all knew Israel would be there to protect their American friends and allies.

We had been on station for approximately 7 to 8 hours. Suddenly, at 2:00 all hell broke loose. We were being attacked by jet aircraft. On their first pass they took out our 4 fifty-caliber machine guns, all of our antennae and our moon dish. Everything we had to communicate with was destroyed. They continued their air assault for about 30 minutes using rockets, canons and napalm which they dropped on the bridge to try and burn us alive. Fifteen minutes into their vicious attack Terry Halbadier got an antenna to work and we began broadcasting “under attack, under attack by unknown jet aircraft.” The jets were unmarked, hiding the identity of our attackers. The USS SARATOGA, commanded by Captain Tully, sent aircraft to our aid only to have them recalled by voice from Secretary of Defense Robert MacNamara. Again, Captain Tully ordered rescue aircraft to come to our aid. Then, President Lyndon Johnson got on the phone and ordered the recall himself, saying “I don’t give a God damn if every man on board that ship dies, I will not embarrass our ally, Israel.”

Now, if we didn’t know who was attacking us until much later into the attack how did the poll cat Johnson know it was the Israelis that were attacking us? The reason is simple–we were set up by our own government as pawns to let Israel have her way with us. Why else would our government recall the life-saving aircraft when we were still under attack?

When the jets got through with us they sent the torpedo boats, three of them. Then and only then did we become aware of who was attacking us. We could see their flags on their boats with the Star of David on them. We were horrified that our so-called ‘ally’ was doing this to us. The word went out we were under attack by Israeli torpedo boats. This was picked up as far away as Vietnam and many other listening posts around the world. Still no help from our government. We were on our own.

The torpedo boats fired five torpedoes at us, one hitting its mark midships, instantly slaughtering 25 American sons. The torpedo boats kept up the attack, I guess, until they ran out of ammunition, shooting at our boilers, firefighters, stretcher bearers, anything that moved. The captain ordered us to prepare to abandon ship.

We put over 3 life rafts, all that remained that would float. We were going to put our most severely wounded men in them. The Israelis would have none of that and shot two of them out of the water and took one aboard their boat as a trophy.

The torpedo boats left and then came Israeli helicopters with armed troops, ready to board our ship and finish us off. They hovered over us like vultures ready for the kill and suddenly they left. We found out later that they left because they knew we had gotten messages out that it was Israel doing the murdering not any Arab state.

When all was said and done in this almost two hour attack, 34 men were murdered, 174 were wounded. There were over 821 canon and rocket holes in our ship. Thousands of 50 caliber armor piercing bullets riddled her skin and there was a 40 x 40 foot torpedo hole in her side. The LIBERTY was the most heavily damaged ship in modern history including WWII.

We did not receive any help from our government for 18 hours after the attack when help was only 15 - 20 minutes away. Why was our government willing to sacrifice 294 American sailors, marines and the finest intelligence ship in the world? That’s what we all were wondering. A few days later, Admiral Isaac Kidd came aboard our ship and ordered every crewman never to speak a word about what happened to us to other crewmen, parents, family, no one under penalty of prison or worse and we all knew what worse meant.

We took the ship to Malta. The dead were removed from the torpedo space and the ship was repaired and painted to look brand new, as if nothing had ever happened.

I stayed silent for many years. I was so afraid to say anything as was the rest of the crew. In about 1983-1984 I read a book called “Assault on the Liberty” by James Ennes Jr., an intelligence officer onboard when we were attacked. I began asking questions of the navy, congress, anyone I could write to find out answers to a simple question - why our government went along with the cover-up as it is still doing today. The standard answer you get from congress is there have already been many investigations which is a bold face lie and I have told them that. All you have to do is check the congressional record and you will see there has never been any investigation except for the sham Board of Inquiry which was a white wash and only took 6 days to complete. Isaac Kidd signed off on it as did Captain Ward Boston, Admiral John McCain Jr. and President Lyndon Johnson all in a matter of 10 days. The conclusion? Mistaken identity!! Captain Boston has recanted what was in the Board of Inquiry as a pack of lies. He was ordered to sign off by none other than Admiral John McCain Jr., Senator McCain’s father.

The fact is we were set up to sink fast, blame it on Egypt and bring the U.S. into the war. This was the deal made by our government and the Israeli Government. This government will not help us get the truth out. They are knee-deep in bed with the Israeli Lobby, AIPAC and every other Israeli interest out there. Our elected officials sold us out then and they are still selling us out now. Israel is committing war crimes on Americans and our government could care less. This country is not “We the Government” it is “We the People” and if we don’t take our government back soon it is nobody’s fault but our own.

What I found out later is our government was 120 seconds away from dropping nuclear bombs on Cairo, Egypt and they would have if the LIBERTY would have sunk. The LIBERTY staying afloat was an act of God. He kept us afloat to tell you the truth. If our government would have nuked Cairo you can bet the Soviet Union would have retaliated in kind on the American people. This was a pact with the devil with only the greater interest of Israel in mind.

My fellow Americans, look what is going on in the Middle East today. It all goes back to the Six Day War 40 years ago. We need you to email your representatives in Congress and demand an investigation into the attack on the LIBERTY. Remember, they work for us, we don’t work for them. As futile as it may seem, we must at least TRY to take our country back from Israel before it is too late, if indeed it is not already.

Miracles have hinged on smaller odds than this. Look at what happened to us 40 years ago–we should have been dead, sunk to the bottom of the sea and yet we stayed afloat, as I said, by the hand of God. It was a miracle. Remember, Israel didn’t just attack the LIBERTY, she attacked America with our government’s help, and remember, as the old saying goes, ‘A leopard does not change its spots’. What this gang of criminals has done once it will do again, and this time, chances are that we will not be as lucky as we were 40 years ago. Despite all the propaganda we hear, Israel is not our friend. No friend treats us as she has. She would just as soon slit our throats as look at us, and this is not a theory, it is a fact proven by history.

Phillip F. Tourney, Survivor June 8, 1967

tonktime5@yahoo.com